Buying And Selling Used Engineering Textbooks – Engineering is the branch of learning and the line of work that makes use of the technical and scientific know-how to combine with the laws of nature and the availability of raw materials and substances to draw up plans for the creation of objects, buildings and structures, machinery and gadgets, implements and devices as well as techniques and procedures that derive at the desired goals with safety and meet precise conditions and predetermined standards.

The American Engineers’ Council for Professional Development (ECPD), the accrediting entity for college and university engineering programs and their many diverse variables, branches and the more specialized sub-branches, has described engineering in the following statement:  “The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.”

Although the word “engineering” has been coined as recently as 1325 and it derived from the Latin word “ingenium” (c. 1250) which means “inherent excellence as related to mental capability and brilliant inventiveness,” engineering existed in much more ancient times when the pulley, the lever and the wheel were invented.

Likewise, superb engineering came into play when ancient cultures conceived, constructed, erected and built amazing structures of antiquity.  The following are but a few examples out of the dozens others which bear witness to the resourcefulness and virtuosity of the earliest engineering achievements:

  • The Aqueducts, the Via Appia and the Colosseum in Rome.
  • The Parthenon and the Acropolis in Greece.
  • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
  • The Pharos of Alexandria and the Pyramids in Egypt.
  • The Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.
  • Petra in Jordan.
  • The Teotihuacán and the cities and pyramids of the Mayan, Inca and Aztec Empires.

The modern day field of engineering is a broad one, but it has been divided into the following main branches:

  • Aerospace Engineering is the design of aircrafts, spacecrafts and such related topics.
  • Chemical Engineering is the transformation of raw materials into usable products and goods.
  • Mechanical Engineering is the design of physical or mechanical systems, such as engines, power trains, kinematic chains and vibration isolation equipment.
  • Electrical Engineering is the creation of electrical systems, such as transformers, as well as electronic appliances.
  • Civil Engineering is the drafting and building of infrastructures, bridges and buildings for public and private use.

If you are up to the task of joining the scores of accomplished engineers through the ages, you have my highest regards and admiration as well as my sincerest wishes for your success.  However, my kudos is not enough.  You will have to go through years of formal education and you will need to invest a whole lot of time and brain power on your studies and a substantial amount of money on tuition and textbooks, among other necessities.

I do not have the wherewithal to advise you on the study aspect of this equation nor do I know how to counsel you on the tuition and other necessities but I am certain that the school of your choice will happily avail all the resources you will need.  What I can and will do is recommend that you purchase your textbooks used and save a goodly amount of money.

The Internet is snowed under with online bookstores but the following are my favorites and they sell all the used engineering textbooks you will need to complete your engineering programs and make your mark in the real world:

Filed under: Used Textbooks For Sale

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